Visit to Grants Pass

So last week we drove up to Grants Pass, OR to visit Heidi, one of my old roommates from BYU. Heidi and I always get together twice a year (it was 3 times this year!) and always have a great time! My parents were driving up to Vancouver, WA to visit my sister, so we hitched a ride with them since Grants Pass is on the way. YAY! Samuel stayed home since he had to work...and take care of the kitties.

The kids did quite well on the drive up--thanks to the DVD players in Grandma and Grandpa's car. Hooray for TV!! And I have to say that Sammy did really well about going to the bathroom on his first long distance 2 day road trip. I was afraid that we would have to stop every hour, but he was able to go 2-3 hours between stops.

The weather was beautiful and autumn-like: nice and crisp in the mornings and sunny and cool in the afternoons. There were so many trees changing colors--it was nice to actually feel like it was Fall, plus we FINALLY got to wear some of our fun Fall clothing! YAY!

The leaves are so pretty!

Isn't this the most FABULOUS sweater?? So CUTE!!

There isn't a ton of stuff to do in Grants Pass--not that I'm complaining. I love to go up there and just relax and hang out with Heidi and her family and eat good food and do girlie things like pedicures and watch Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. Our kids play well together and they always seem to have a good time together.

We spent time at the park--it was a lovely day.

Sammy on the slide

Hannah on the slide

Whhhheeeeeeeee!

You can always tell I'm having fun when my tongue is sticking out!!

Scotty and Sammy race to the bottom

That was fun!

The train table is all MINE!

Hannah has a serious shoe fetish! She loves to put on shoes--it doesn't matter if they are hers or not and it doesn't matter the size either!

If I can walk in them...then they're mine now!

So, they're a little bit (okay, a lot) too big...I can still wear them!

Even Grandma's shoes work for me!

Am I cute or what?? (Yes, those are my brother's pajamas...and I fit in them better than he does!)

We had such a great time with Heidi and her family...I think I gained 10 pounds last week, but it was TOTALLY worth it! Thanks for having us!!

Blame The Bachelor

So, I was going to update my blog tonight about our trip to Oregon. But, since Hannah won't go to sleep, my house is a mess of suitcases, dirty laundry, dirty dishes (thanks Samuel) and evidence of my shopping expeditions in Grants Pass...I've opted to watch The Bachelor and eat Moose Munch and blog about my trip tomorrow.

By the way, has anyone tried the new Caramel Apple Moose Munch? It is soooo FREAKING good. I ate the entire bag in 3 days...all by myself. I promise...I don't have an eating disorder. At least I think I don't.

Off to Oregon

So, we are leaving tomorrow (well it's already "tomorrow", so in the morning) to head off to Oregon for a week to visit my good friend Heidi. I'll try to post while we are away, but no guarantees.

I hope it's not too cold or rainy...brrrr. Although I have to admit that I am glad that I will miss the forecasted 90 degree weather here for next week. Seriously, it's the end of OCTOBER!

LA Clippers Game

As most of you know, my husband, Samuel, is a HUGE LA Clippers fan, and since the first preseason home game was Thursday, we got some great tickets off Ebay and went to the game.

It's going to be a disappointing season with Elton Brand out for most of the season with an injury and Shaun Livingston out since last season with a dislocated knee and he probably won't return this season either. We still have Cory Maggette and the newly acquired Brevin Knight and Ruben Patterson--and of course, my favorite, Sam Cassell. I have to note that rookie Guillermo Diaz had a good game.

We have always taken the kids to the games and it has never been a problem, but I've only recently (since March) put the kids on an early bedtime schedule (7:00pm) and the game started at 7:30pm.

Hannah also is getting 4 molars in right now and has a terribly congested cough and runny nose. I wanted to just stay home with her and let the boys have a night out, but Samuel wanted to make this a family outing and plus we ALWAYS go to the games together. So we all went.

We arrived a little early and took a few minutes to check out the new Nokia Theatre that they have built across the street from Staples Center. The Dixie Chicks and the Eagles were performing that night so there was a big crowd there for that plus a lot of spectators just checking out the new venue. It's really cool new area that they are building up around there--check it out sometime. (No pictures of the Nokia Theatre, I was too busy chasing Hannah around)

Our seats were great--just over the tunnel that the players come out of and pretty close to the court.
Since it was preseason there wasn't that many people there, so we had about 6 seats to ourselves which gave Hannah and Sammy room to play around. Hannah did okay--better than I expected her to be and everyone was so nice about her crabbiness and my taking her out--and having to let me out of the row numerous times.

Sammy thoroughly enjoyed himself and it's so cute to see him get more and more into the game as he is getting older--this is his 4th Clippers season.

We ended up leaving at halftime--Hannah was completely ready to go and nothing made her happy. Sammy was a little sad to go, but agreed that he was tired and ready for bed.

We bought each of the kids a basketball on the way out which seemed to help lift their spirits a bit. They were passed out within 5 minutes of the drive home.


Next time, we'll wait for a Saturday matinee game so we can stay the entire time. Go Clips!

Mmmmmmm...

Mmmmmm, cottage cheese...

it's soooo yummy...

Portraits

Here are some of the pictures that we took at JC Penneys a few weeks ago. They turned out much better than I thought they would considering Hannah cried and ran away almost the entire time. The two pictures of her here are the only good ones. Which is actually a good thing because I didn't spend a ton.

We always seem to have a good experience at the JC Penneys in Arcadia (we've used them 4 times now), plus if you have a coupon (found in most baby or parenting magazines) it's such a great deal!! The coupon will usually waive the sitting fee ($9.99) and all portrait sheets are $3.99 or $4.99 depending on which coupon you have.

We have tried both Target and The Picture People (expensive $$), but haven't been very happy with the results, so I think we'll stick with Penneys.

He looks so grown up here!

He is definitely the photogenic one in the family!

I LOVE both of these pictures that captures their long lashes, but didn't want to have a bunch of 5x7 or 4x6. I just wanted one 4x6 of each of these which they didn't have. I guess I could have just bought 2 full sheets of (4) 4x6, but I didn't want to keep spending money. Especially since we are doing more pictures for Christmas. Oh well.

So sweet!

Tongue out AGAIN!!

Another Farm Visit

We went back to Underwood Farms last Saturday for their Annual Fall Harvest Festival. Sammy has been asking to go back for another visit and really wanted Grandma and Grandpa to come along so he could show them all the animals. It was a beautiful day--much warmer than I thought it would be!

The pumpkins and other squash were HUGE!! Sammy couldn't get over how many they had and how big they were. Hannah seemed impressed as well.

They had a TON of activities for kids of all ages. There was a corn maze, pony rides, a hay tower to climb, bounce house, tractor rides, and of course, animals to feed. Plus, they had a craft fair and overpriced food. $7.00 for kettle corn...sigh.

Sammy climbed all the way up by himself!! This picture doesn't show all the levels of the tower--there were quite a few!

Hannah and I joined him for a picture.

Tractor ride with Grandma and Grandpa. You can see Hannah is thrilled...but hey, we've got kettle corn!!! yummy!

Taking a rest on a bench in the shade. Tongue sticking out, as always...